Russia the driver behind China’s aluminium import boom

Russia and China are becoming increasingly dependent on each other in the aluminium market. — Reuters

CHINA’s imports of unwrought aluminium more than doubled year-on-year in 2023 and were the second highest annual total since the start of the century.

Primary metal imports surged to 1.54 million tonnes from 668,000 tonnes in 2022, but fell just short of the record 1.58 tally accumulated over 2021.